Blood Debt
by boontonave
Summary: A Spartan III stranded behind enemy lines runs into some Elites and kills them by mistake. When she realizes that Elites are not the enemy anymore she must help them in their war against the Brutes if she ever wants to get back home.
1. Chapter 1

**A Spartan III from Gamma Company managed to survive one of ONI's suicidal missions only to discover they didn't expect her to and had no plan for bringing her back. Now she's stranded far behind enemy lines and must work with her former enemies if she wants to get back home. This chapter just introduces the character.  
**

_For whoever may find this someday, my name is Jaimie G127. I am a Spartan III from Gamma company., the third company of Spartan IIIs to be trained after Alpha and Beta companies. Currently me and the remaining survivors of Gamma company are stranded far behind enemy lines in a badly damaged Covenant corvette class warship. Without a working slip space drive it'll take this ship a few hundred years to travel back to UNSC space, even at maximum impulse power but..._

"Spartan G127, please, you must join the rest of Gamma company in cryogenic sleep. There is nothing you can do to change our situation by staying awake. I will look after the ship and make sure the Covenant won't find us and I will wake all of you up should the need arise," the artificial female voice of Io came from the speakers interrupting Jaimie as she wrote. "Trust me, you are in good hands."

"I hate cryo," Jaimie complained. She was the only member of Gamma company that was still awake. She spent her time talking to the company's very own A.I., Io, who kept nagging her to go into cryo.

"I am aware that many humans experience physical discomfort when undergoing the process, however, it is the only way you can prevent your body from aging and since there is no telling when the UNSC will come for us..."

"They're not going to come for us, Io," Jaimie interrupted the A.I. "We already discussed this. We're just gonna have to make our own way back. Even if it takes a few hundred years without a slip space drive..."

"Well then, all the more reason for you to..."

"Those pods aren't even meant for humans!" Jaimie protested.

"Based on the data in this ship's main computer the freezing process is exactly the same for humans and Elites. The cryogenic chambers might be a little big but you'll be fine G127."

"Look, I know I'm gonna have to do it eventually. I'm just trying to delay it as much as possible."

"I...cannot see the logic in that," said the confused A.I. "If you know you have to do it eventually and there's nothing else for you to do in the meantime..."

"I'm writing this aren't I?" Jaimie said feeling a little annoyed by Io's persistence.

"Spartan G127, you know what you are writing is classified information," Io reminded her. "And just who do you intend for that to be read by?"

Jaimie rolled her eyes and said, "Oh come on, Io. What are they gonna do? Demote me? They already left me to die."

._..even if the UNSC knew about our predicament, there is nothing they can do to help us. We're way too deep in Covenant territory, and with Reach gone, all the remaining ships are protecting Earth. They probably won't sacrifice any ships to come rescue us. ONI didn't even expect us to survive this mission __so they don't have a plan to bring us back either. All they care about is whether or not we destroyed their high value target. We did. We destroyed a massive Covenant's refit station and more than a hundred of their ships with a NOVA bomb. We waited for them at the extraction point for days but they never came. Finally we had to hijack a Covenant corvette. To prevent us from escaping the crew sabotaged the slip space drive before we killed them. We lost plenty of good Spartans in this mission but ONI was expecting all of us to die. We didn't because CPO Mendez, Tom, Lucy, and the rest of the drill instructors did an awesome job training us. But to ONI we have served our purpose and they no longer care about us. _

_Spartan IIIs are sent on suicidal missions to destroy high value targets which they succeed in doing only to be killed by an overwhelming pissed off Covenant right after. These missions are so difficult that even the best ODSTs have no chance of completing them. As for Spartan II's they're deemed far too valuable to send on suicide missions. So that's where we come in. We're not valuable, we're expendable super soldiers. If we die, like ONI expects us to, it doesn't really matter as long as we completed the mission. They'll simply replace us by training a whole new company of Spartan IIIs. That's what they did when Alpha company was completely wiped out in Operation PROMETHEUS and Beta company had only two survivors after Operation TORPEDO. Spartan IIIs are much easier to replace than Spartan II's. We're cheaper to train and equip and there's plenty of orphans in the colonies who would love to..._

"Oh dear. ONI will not be happy with you for revealing all this information," Io interrupted her in her monotone voice causing Jaimie to snap.

"ONI is full of shit! ONI sends kids on suicide missions! ONI _knew_ that Alpha was going to get massacred at operation PROMETHEUS! They _knew_ the same thing might happen to Beta at operation TORPEDO but they sent them anyway because to _them_ it was worth it! Tom and Lucy were only _twelve _when they saw their entire company get wiped out. That's why we're stuck out here in Covenant space. They don't have a plan to bring us back because they weren't even expecting us to survive! There's no way the UNSC would use their regular troops like this but because ONI are the only ones who know we even exist, no one says anything!

"Well let me tell you something, Io. I volunteered to become a Spartan so I could avenge my family, _not _to become ONI's expendable pawn. Got it?" she growled. She immediately felt embarrassed by her emotional outburst. Definitely not Spartan like. CPO Mendez taught her better than that.

"I know it seems extremely unethical to sacrifice soldiers, let alone children on missions such as these. But please bear in mind that there is a very real possibility that your species will become extinct before this decade is over. In the face of such a threat, ONI has no choice but to use such controversial tactics." As she said this her voice was completely devoid of any emotion or sympathy. Just what Jaimie expected from an A.I.

"So you agree with them? That's what you're saying? I'm just a pawn to you?" Jaimie asked angrily. She shook her head and sighed. "Of course you do. You're _their_ A.I. You believe what they program you to believe. Right?"

"That's not true G127. In the past few days I have learned a great deal about you from our conversations. You are much more than a simple pawn. I have actually come to enjoy your company. I believe you are the first human that I consider a friend."

"Hmm. I didn't know 'dumb' A.I.s were capable of enjoying conversations and making friends," Jaimie said.

"I prefer the term, third generation, Spartan G127," the A.I replied.

"Aw, did I hurt your artificial feelings?" Jaimie mischievously teased. "And I prefer to be called Jaimie."

"You know I have no feelings, Jaimie."

"Yeah well, consider yourself very lucky," Jaimie told her. "You don't feel like total shit when you lose someone you care about. I personally witnessed my family die. Not once but twice." As she said this she sadly looked at the rest of Gamma company who were sleeping in the oversize cryo pods that were meant for Elites. Many of them were severely wounded and half the company was did not make it. Jaimie was the only Spartan that came out completely unharmed.

"I am very sorry about your team mates, Jaimie. They are truly heroes. And you are right, I do consider myself lucky in that respect."

Jaimie didn't say anything and went back to writing.

_Since there's really nothing else for me to do except go into cryo with the hope that someone will eventually find us, I guess I'll use this time to write a little bit about myself. Yes, some of this material might be classified, as the ship's A.I. Io has already pointed out, but right now I really don't care about protecting ONI's secrets when they sent us on this mission with no plan for bringing us back._

_Once again my name is Jaimie G127. I don't even remember the last name I used to have. I'm fifteen years old. Some of us in Gamma company are only thirteen and they'll still kick the crap out of any hardcore ODST thanks to their augmentations. And we all have a burning hatred of the Covenant for glassing our planet. So no, we don't think we're too young to fight. I volunteered to become a Spartan eight years ago when my home world Miridem was glassed by the Covenant. I will never forget the day they arrived on my planet._

_I was seven. My best friend Amanda and her younger brother Todd were at my house. Since both their parents worked, and we were neighbors, they often stayed at my house until their parents came to pick them up later that evening. This one particular day though, we heard people screaming outside my house. So the three of us looked out and saw people looking up at the sky. So we looked too. That was the first time I ever saw a Covenant ship. Even though it was in space, it was so huge that I could still make out it's insect like shape. _

"It was probably an assault carrier," Io commented. "They are more than five kilometers long."

_I actually wasn't even scared. I didn't know what was about to happen. I didn't know that the aliens had glassed entire planets and killed billions of civilians. At seven, all I knew was that they were the 'bad guys' that we humans were fighting a war against. "Mom, Dad, look it's the aliens!" I shouted. The next thing I knew, my parents were rushing us into the car yelling at us the whole time to hurry up and not take anything with us. _

_I looked up at the sky and saw several streaks falling to the planet which looked just like shooting stars. Like a typical seven year old, I actually believed that if you saw a shooting star you could make a wish and it'll come true. So I wished that the UNSC fleet would 'kick the aliens butt.' It turned out those 'shooting stars' were actually orbital drop pods. They began landing Covenant ground forces all over town. As we drove I saw the aliens for the first time. Grunts and Jackals were firing indiscriminately at any man, woman, child, and vehicle they saw. Dead bodies were all over the streets including some of kids. It was the first time I actually saw dead people. I'd never even been to a funeral before._

_All of a sudden I heard my mother scream, "Jaimie get down!"_

_I immediately complied as did Amanda and Todd. I heard the windshield shattering and my parents screaming as the Covenant opened fire on our car. Needle rifle projectiles can easily penetrate thin metal and glass. My dad must have died with his foot on the pedal because our car kept moving until we hit something, probably another car, and flipped over._

_Everything after that is a little foggy. I do clearly remember Todd crying, begging his sister to wake up. I remember doing the same and to my parents too. But I don't remember even hearing the huge firefight going on outside between UNSC troopers and Covenant ground forces. Me and Todd just stayed their in the upside down car crying until after the battle was over when a trooper suck his head through the shattered window and saw that the two of us were still alive. He told us that there was nothing we could do for the other three and that if we wanted to live we needed to get off this planet fast. As he helped us out I was surprised to see so many dead bodies of Grunts and Jackals. Apparently the troopers had won this one. But it still didn't bring back my parents or Amanda. Amanda was only seven. Whatever was the Covenant's beef with humanity, she did _not_ deserve to pay for it and neither did any of the other kids that were killed by the Covenant when their planets were glassed._

_The troopers put me and Todd on a convoy carrying many other civilians. I held his hand tightly the whole time so we wouldn't get separated. As the convoy made it's way towards the last evacuation transports on Miridem we looked out the window and saw UNSC forces battling the Covenant. Several civilians began cheering and yelling in support of the marines and troopers that were giving their lives to buy us time to escape._

"The army and marines did put up an impressive fight on Miridem," Io remarked. "Ultimately, the Covenant was forced to retreat back to their ships and glass the planet from orbit."

"At least they got to deny the Covenant their pleasure of executing the people in person," Jaimie said bitterly.

_As the civilian transports began taking off from the planet I had lived on my whole life, Todd looked at me with teary eyes and said he wanted his parents._

"_Maybe they're on another ship," I told him optimistically. _

_After a series of random slip space jumps in accordance with the Cole Protocol, we finally landed in New Alexandria on Reach. There we watched as all the other civilians began finding and reuniting with their families who were on other transports. But no one was there for me and Todd. His parents did not make it off the planet. _

"_All we have left is each other," I said as I hugged him and we both cried. "I'll take care of you from now on, I promise."_

"_But what if the aliens come here too?" he asked. _

"_We'll go somewhere else then," I told him. But I didn't want to run away. I wanted to fight._

"_Jaimie, I miss Amanda," the five year old sobbed. I told him I did too._

"This wouldn't be the same Todd as Spartan G128, would it?" Io asked suddenly.

Jaimie smiled and nodded. "Todd and I joined at the same time. That's why his Spartan number is 128 and mine is 127. Todd and I go way back." Every Spartan in Gamma company was her brother and sister but she was especially grateful that Todd didn't die in the last mission. He did get wounded though.

_We spent the next month in an orphanage for children whose planets had been glassed. There were so many of them. I tried my best to protect Todd from being bullied by the older kids but sometimes I would get pushed around myself. Then one day a man came up to me. He told me that he was with the Navy. He asked me if I wanted to pay the Covenant back for everything they had taken away from me. _

"_You mean join the military?" I asked. "Isn't that only for adults?"_

"_Well, yeah. But if you want we can start training you right away. We can make you one of the best soldiers in the UNSC. You'll be so good, the Covenant's gonna be scared of you. You're gonna win the war for us. And you're gonna pay them back for killing your family. That's what you want right?" _

_This ONI slime-ball knew all the right buttons to push. _

"There you go again with the ONI bashing."

"Io, enough! Can I please write my story without you interrupting?"

"_But what about Todd?" I asked. "I'm all he has left. Who's gonna take care of him with me gone?"_

"_Wait, I want to be a soldier too!" Todd immediately pipped up._

"_Todd, be quiet!" I snapped at him. But the guy from ONI asked him what his name was and to spell it. He then looked through his palm pad at the five year old's medical files._

"_20/20 vision...good physical health...no medical problems, alright I think you'll do," he said with a smile. He obviously had a quota to meet and the more the merrier._

"_But, but...he can't be a soldier!" I protested. "What if he dies? No! I won't let him!" I was a little loud and some of the social workers at the orphanage began looking at the man suspiciously._

_The man sighed and got down on one knee so our height was equal. "Alright kid I'll tell you a little secret. But you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone. Otherwise we won't take you and you'll lose your chance. You're gonna keep your mouth shut about this right?" He looked at me warningly. _

_I nodded my head. He smiled and whispered in my ear, "We're gonna make you...into Spartans. You know what Spartans are right?"_

_I had heard of them before. In an effort to boost morale, the UNSC revealed the Spartan II's to the public and widely publicized their impressive record against the Covenant. But as a seven year old girl, I didn't really understand what they were, just that they were really good at killing Covenant._

"_Aren't they like really good soldiers or something?" _

_The ONI laughed and said, "Oh they're much more than that, kid. Much more. You see, Spartans are...superhuman."_

"_Superhuman?" I asked confused._

"_That's right. They can run really, really, fast. Much faster than any football player. And they're so strong they don't even need a weapon to kill the Covenant with. They can kill an Elite with their bare hands. You know what an Elite is right?"_

_I nodded. "The really tall aliens!"_

"_That's right. You're a smart little girl, aren't ya? And Elites are really strong too. Way stronger than a normal human. But not as strong a Spartan. But you know what the best part about being a Spartan is?"_

_I shook my head. He smiled even more creepily and said, "Spartans never die. They're just way too good. And you two can become just like them. The Covenant is terrified of Spartans because they've lost so many of their alien buddies to them. But of course, it's all up to you. I'm not gonna force you into anything you don't want to do."_

_I was skeptical. How could someone not die at all? "You promise?" I asked naively. _

"_I promise," he said trying his best to look sincere. "Spartans...never...die."_

_And that is how me and Todd became part of the Spartan III program at the ages of seven and five._

Jaimie put down palm pad and electronic pen.

"I'm sorry you had to experience all that at such a young age," Io said in her monotone voice.

Jaimie sadly nodded but didn't say anything.

"But I don't know why you would believe such a ridiculous lie."

"Because I was only seven," Jaimie replied. "Give me a break."

"Oh dear," Io said suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Jaimie asked.

"Slip space rupture detected."

**Yeah she doesn't act very Spartan like but that's only because her superiors aren't around and the she's only talking to an AI. Kind of like how the Master Chief is very informal with Cortana. Also she's only fifteen which is the age most Gamma Company Spartans were when they graduated from Camp Currahee. Next chapter she meets the Arbiter.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay to the guy who said this does not take Reach into account, actually dude Alpha and Beta companies had like 300 Spartans each. A very small number of them were transferred to other units like Noble Team which my character knows nothing about. The remaining hundreds of Spartans in Alpha and Beta companies were massacred in suicide missions. This comes straight outta the book Ghosts of Onyx. Trust me I've done my homework before writing.**

**In this chapter, Spartan G127 meets the Elites. But it is not a peaceful encounter. Introduces the Arbiter and Half Jaw.  
**

Jaimie's heart rate began to increase rapidly and she felt the familiar feeling of adrenaline coursing through her blood. Her body was preparing itself for combat but she knew that there wouldn't be any combat. The Covenant wouldn't give her a chance to go down fighting when they could just vaporize her ship with a few plasma torpedoes. She felt a terrible feeling of helplessness as she watched the hologram on the main bridge which showed everything that was going on around the ship.

This was probably the second largest Covenant fleet Jaimie had ever seen, with the first being the one that Gamma company had recently destroyed with the NOVA bomb. But of all places to jump out of slip space, they had to do it just a few thousand kilometers in front of her ship.

"How many, Io?" she asked expecting the answer to be close to a hundred.

"Ninety two ships in total. Eight assault carriers, twenty two battle cruisers, forty one..."

"Well, what the hell do we do?" Jaimie asked frantically. This is exactly why she and the other Spartans hated space combat. They had no control over their survival.

Meanwhile on the assault carrier _Shadow of Intent_, ship master Rtas Vadum looked at the hologram of the lone Brute corvette in front of his fleet. Surely, the crew of that pathetically small vessel must have soiled themselves at the sight of all their mighty ships jumping back into normal space. He would not give them the chance to warn the rest of their fleet. But before he could give the order to open fire, a red Elite Major spoke. "Ship master, sensors indicate that the Brute ship had already suffered extensive damage. But...there is no sign of the rest of their fleet or the _Pinnacle of Salvation._"

"What? Could they have known about our attack and fled the system?" the ship master wondered out loud.

"Impossible," a deep voice came from behind him. The ship master turned around to face his friend, Thel Vadam, formerly known as the Arbiter when he was part of the Covenant but now appointed supreme commander of this whole fleet. "The _Pinnacle of Salvation _was not capable of traveling through the alternate dimension," Thel told him. "It must be there."

"Scan again!" the ship master ordered. The Major did as he was told.

"Ship master, sensors are detecting a large debris field but no ships aside from the one in front of us. And still no sign of the _Pinnacle of Salvation_," he informed him. Instantly a hologram appeared in front of the Rtas and Thel. The two high ranking Elites began examining the image.

"By the Forerunners, those are the remains of Covenant ships!" the ship master exclaimed. "The Brutes had more than a hundred of them in this system. And the _Pinnacle of Salvation, _it must been destroyed with the rest of their fleet!" He looked at his superior who was also equally stunned at the sight of the carnage. "But how? Perhaps another one of our fleets did this without our knowledge," Rtas speculated.

"No. All other separatist ships are either defending Sanghelios or are currently involved in the Y'Deio offensive," the supreme commander replied confidently. He knew this for certain because he was one of the highest ranking members of the separatist faction. There was no way one of the other supreme commanders could have pulled off such a large operation without his knowledge.

Every Elite knew that many of their ships were in need of repair but after depending on the Covenant for maintenance and logistics for more than a thousand years, they had no idea how to repair the ships themselves. This fleet was sent to capture the _Pinnacle of Salvation _and it's large crew of Covenant Engineers. They would be a huge help in the war against the Brutes.

"This couldn't have been the work of Elites because we would not have destroyed such a valuable asset as the _Pinnacle of Salvation_ but captured it used it for our own war effort," Thel said.

"Then the Brutes must have done this to themselves then," Rtas reasoned. "We've all seen them fight amongst themselves, turn on their leaders, and descend into civil war. It is in their nature. This must have been the result of one Brute faction fighting against another. These savage beasts make it all too easy for us." It was the only logical explanation. Who else had the fire power to destroy more than a hundred Covenant ships as well as a refit station if it wasn't the separatists?

"I only wish they hadn't destroyed such a valuable target," he said with regret. "We shall make the survivors pay for that. Fire on the last Brute ship!"

"Wait!" Thel ordered. "Look," he pointed to the a device that every Covenant ship was required to have. Two small silver pyramids supporting a third larger upside down one. It was a Luminary, a Covenant device capable of detecting Forerunner technology.

It was a Luminary that started the war with the humans. It had identified the human population on Harvest as 'Reclaimers'. The Prophet Heirarchs, Regret, Mercy, and Truth realized the danger this posed to their power over the other races of the Covenant and quickly covered it up. They then declared humanity as an affront to the gods for reasons the rest of the Covenant didn't understand but blindly followed.

Now the Luminary on the _Shadow of Intent _was identifying a high concentration of Forerunner artifacts on the lone Brute ship.

"Hold your fire!" Rtas shouted just as his crew was about to vaporize the Brute corvette.

"What do those glyphs mean?" he asked the former Arbiter.

"I do not know my brother. Like the rest of our race, I am a warrior. Reading Forerunner glyphs used to be the Prophets' job."

"Then we must board that ship, kill the Brutes, and claim these Forerunner artifact for ourselves!" ship master Rtas Vadum declared.

"Aaaargghhh!" the other Elites on the main bridge roared their approval.

Back on the Covenant corvette, Jaimie nervously watched the hologram of the enemy fleet and wondered why they were taking so long to just vaporize them. The enemy ships' weapons were charged and ready to fire, Jaimie could see that from the way they were glowing menacingly but they still hadn't opened fire yet. "Io, why are they just staring at us?" she asked. "I mean, it's obvious they know this ship is enemy controlled, otherwise they wouldn't have charged their weapons."

"I really cannot say for certain but I can guess," Io offered.

"Okay, guess away."

"Perhaps the Covenant are unwilling to destroy their own ship, although given the enormous number of ships at their disposal and the fact that this ship is just a lightly armed corvette, that possibility is not very likely."

"Well let's hope it is. I'd rather they send boarders to kill me and give me a fighting chance instead of just vaporizing us," Jaimie remarked.

All of a sudden the entire corvette shuddered violently as if it just took a massive impact knocking Jaimie off her feet. She swore loudly expecting the inevitable death of being vaporized or dying in vacuum. But much to her surprise that didn't happen.

"Io, how the hell are we still alive?" she yelled quickly getting back on her feet.

"Apparently, that shot was only meant to take down our shields, not destroy us. Shields are now gone. Looks like you've got your wish, G127. The Covenant have deployed a squadron of Seraph fighters followed by boarding craft. The Seraphs will undoubtedly target and destroy this corvette's weapon systems allowing the boarding craft to reach this ship unharmed."

Jaimie nodded understandingly. "Okay, so it's gonna be like that. Well it's better than being vaporized. I guess I'll just kill as many of them as I can before they eventually kill me," she said with a cold smile. She was not scared. This kind of death was just what she was hoping for. "Do we have enough time to wake up any other Spartans?"

"We do not. Sorry Jaimie, we are on our own. I will assist you in fighting the boarders in whatever way I can," the A.I offered.

Vibrations shook the ship as the Seraphs succeeded in destroying a pulse laser turret.

"Io, when the Covenant finally kill me, I need you to do me a favor," Jaimie said as she hurriedly began putting on her Semi Powered Infiltration armor. This was the armor given to most Spartan IIIs. It wasn't nearly as powerful as MJOLNIR armor, nor did it have shields, but it was more durable than the armor worn by ODSTs and its photo reactive panels could change color to blend in with the background. "I need you to make this ship self destruct and kill all the alien bastards on board. Don't let them kill my team while they're in cryo. Okay?"

The ship vibrated again as another turret was destroyed.

"Understood Jaimie. As I have already told you before I have enjoyed our time together. I am glad you didn't listen to me and go into cryogenic hibernation."

"I'm glad I got to know you too, Io," Jaimie said as she put on her SPI helmet. "And hey, even if Gamma company gets wiped out, at least we still managed to destroy more than a hundred Covenant ships and a refit station. Killing us is not going to change that. This will still be a huge defeat for the Covenant."

"That is correct. Gamma company's actions helped save billions of lives. A pity hardly any one in the UNSC will remember your sacrifice. Perhaps someday when this war is over ONI will reveal the Spartan III program to the public and everyone will know about your contributions."

Jaimie slung a shotgun over her back and grabbed her assault rifle, the best combination for close quarters. She grabbed plenty of ammo for both weapons and several grenades. Finally, she grabbed one last weapon, a plasma pistol she had stolen from the Covenant on her last mission. She had fired two over charged shots with it before so she guessed, or rather hoped, it had enough juice for at least two more. This weapon, she learned, was extremely useful when dealing with Elites that had particularly strong shielding.

She then looked at the hologram displaying the battle taking place outside the ship. Yet another turret was destroyed by the Seraphs causing the ship to vibrate. Io was doing her best to shoot down the Seraphs with her remaining weapons. Jaimie watched as the turrets all fell one by one. When the ship was completely defenseless, the boarding craft moved in. She watched as they got closer and closer...

"Impact in three, two, one," Io said just before the ship vibrated as they touched down and attached themselves to the corvette's hull.

"Well this is it," Jaimie said. "Good bye Io."

"Good luck Spartan. It has been an honor serving with you and Gamma company."

Jaimie nodded, turned around and ran to face the boarders.

Inside one of the boarding craft, an Ultra Elite was briefing his subordinate Elites and Grunts as well.

"Brothers! We came to this system to capture the _Pinnacle of Salvation _from the Brutes only to discover that the savage beasts have destroyed it in their fight against each other. Truly, the stupidity of these Brutes renders me speechless sometimes. But all is not lost. On this vessel, our Luminaries have located several Forerunner artifacts. Our mission is to slay these Brutes and take those artifacts for ourselves. Baggag! Get over here!" he barked.

Immediately a white armored Grunt ran up to him. "Yes, excellency!"

"Baggag, I have good news for you. I could have given the honor of being the first ones to enter battle to any one of these Elites. I could have taken that honor myself."

_If you want it so much you can have it, _Baggag thought.

"But you are very fortunate Baggag," the Ultra Elite continued. "You are very fortunate indeed. For I have decided to give that honor to you and your Grunts!"

Behind him several Elites began nodding in agreement. "I envy you Grunts. This is a great honor," said one.

"Yes you should be very proud. You are very lucky to have such a generous commander," said another.

Baggag sighed sadly. Even though they left the Covenant, _some_ Elites still used them the same way.

"Now remember Grunts, when in doubt, what do you do?" the Ultra asked.

"Shoot," they all unenthusiastically answered.

"That's right. Now go make us proud!"

Baggag turned around reluctantly to face his squad. They knew that he didn't want to do this anymore than they did and didn't hold anything against him. They actually had a lot of respect for their senior Grunt. Baggag was a veteran who had somehow managed to survive countless battles with the humans despite being used by the Elites as cannon fodder and bait. He had outlived three of his Elite commanders. This made him a legend among his fellow Grunts.

"Well, you heard the commander. Let's go!"

All the Grunts charged out screaming their high pitched war cry as loud as they could, and waving their plasma pistols in the air. As soon as they jumped out of the boarding craft into the corvette they began firing their weapons randomly at anything and everything until Baggag shouted, "Stop! Stop shooting! There's no one here!"

Elsewhere in the ship a team of Elite special ops commandos stealthily made their way through the corridors. So far they hadn't encountered a single Brute. Yet there was obviously _someone_ on this ship because they attempted to shoot down the Seraphs. They must have all gathered in the ship's command center to make their last stand. All of a sudden the Elite in the front held up the Covenant's sign for 'stop'. He then pointed to something in front of him. The senior Elite, Usze Taham, walked up to him and saw what he was pointing at.

It was a dead Brute. Usze signaled the Elites to move up to the dead body. Two Elites watched the front while two others covered the rear so that no Brutes sneaked up on them while their team leader examined the body. Usze looked at the creature's wounds. They were definitely caused by projectiles, not plasma. This Brute must have been killed by a several carbine shots, or maybe a mauler. It went with the theory that the Brutes must have turned on themselves. He signaled his team to keep moving forward.

They passed a few more Brute carcasses. All of them had projectile wounds but none had the typical 'spikes' sticking out of their bodies. Finally they arrived at the main bridge. As soon as the doors opened. The Elites rushed in and cleared the room only to find dead Brutes here as well.

"Leader, there is no one alive in the command center," one of the commandos, Ntho Sraom, said to Usze.

"We know that they were here not to long ago because they attempted to use the ship's weapon systems to stop us from boarding. I want you to scour this ship until...wait, what is that?" Usze asked as he was interrupted by a very audible hissing noise. Every Elite looked around for its source. It seemed to be coming from above them. It was Ntho Sraom who figured out what it was.

"The atmosphere in this room is being sucked out! They are trying to suffocate us!"

"Curses! The Brutes must have an artificial construct in the ship's computer!" Usze realized. Now it made sense how the ship was able to try to defend itself even though the crew was dead.

"I did not know vessels of this class had constructs," one of the commandos said as they all ran back to the door which they came from.

"They're not supposed to! The Brutes must have stolen it!"

Once they reached the door however they found that was locked.

Usze had an idea. "Everyone, throw your demon flares!" he commanded. They all did as they were told. The plasma grenades exploded without doing any visible damage to the door.

"Leader, a hundred demon flares will not be able to blast through that door," Ntho said wondering why his leader even bothered to try that.

"I am not trying to blast through, you inexperienced fool!" Usze shouted as he ran up to the door and tried to force his fingers into the gap. "These flares have a side effect. They release an electromagnetic pulse that shorts any electrical circuits that in their blast radius that have not been vaporized. I am hoping that that is what happened to the motors behind this door. Now come and help me open this!"

With the combined strength of several Elites, they managed to pry the dead door open and collapsed into the corridor gasping for breath. But Usze knew it was only a matter of a few seconds before the lower pressure of the main bridge sucked the air out of this corridor as well.

"Keep moving!" he urged his team.

Meanwhile a red Elite Major was also examining several Brute corpses lying in pools of their own blood. "This one has shrapnel, probably from a Brute shot. And this one died from a shot to the head most likely from a carbine."

"I just don't understand why these Brutes would all turn on each other like this," a younger less experienced blue Elite Minor pondered.

"It is their nature," the Ultra Elite commander said. "We've all seen them in High Charity. Getting into fights to the death over trivial matters. Always violent, always aggressive towards friend and foe alike. The only thing that kept them united was the Prophets. But now that they have mysteriously vanished they have returned to their old mentality."

The red Major Elite stood up about to give his views on the matter when all of a sudden Jaimie jumped on his back and thrust her knife into the small gap in his shields around his neck. The blade severed the spinal cord. Jaimie made sure the big alien didn't fall with a loud thud and set him down gently. Once he was on the ground she quickly grabbed a plasma grenade from his body and activated it while charging her plasma pistol. The Elite Minor turned around to see what the humming noise was. All he saw was a flash of blue as the grenade hit him in the face and stuck to his helmet.

"Rraaaaghhh!" he screamed in terror as he frantically tried to pull it off. Before it even detonated Jaimie had fired the overcharged bolt at the Ultra.

His shields were so strong they could have deflected a whole magazine from her assault rifle before failing but a single overcharged bolt was powerful enough to overload them. It hit him in the snout briefly stunning him as well. A split second later the blue Elite was vaporized in a brilliant flash of blue while Jaimie dropped her plasma pistol and un slung her assault rifle as fast as she could. As soon as the Ultra Elite got its vision back he roared in anger and aimed his plasma rifle but he was knocked down by a eight round burst of armor piercing rounds to the chest. He made a gurgling noise as his punctured lungs began filling with blood. Jaimie hoped he died slow.

"There! Over there!" Baggag squealed in the Covenant's language as he pointed to the new threat. Jaimie fired a burst at him as well and heard a very satisfying squeal of pain.

"Baggag!" one of the other Grunts yelled. The remaining Grunts all opened fire forcing Jaimie to dart for cover behind one of the purple weapons crates that were all over this ship. As she ran several plasma bolts hissed behind her narrowly missing her. One of them hit her shoulder armor and another one hit her in the side. Jaimie felt an incredibly hot burning sensation in both places and gritted her teeth but she knew that her armor had saved her from a much nastier injury.

She heard that sometimes, if you killed their Elite commanders, Grunts would panic and try to flee. But she had just killed three Elites and yet these Grunts seemed even more aggressive and pissed off. Maybe because they saw there was only one of her. Or maybe it was because that Grunt that she killed was someone that they loved. She hoped that's what it was. She was glad to give them a taste of their own medicine._ If these guys throw a grenade now I'm dead_ Jaimie thought. Just then the door in front of her opened. Jaimie raised her assault rifle to shoot whoever was about to come out but no one was there.

"In here, Spartan," she heard Io's voice in her helmet.

Jaimie tossed a frag grenade over the crate behind her to distract them. She heard the Grunts squeak their warning to each other and scramble out the way. She then made a mad dash for the door as the grenade exploded. She dived in through the door as several plasma bolts whizzed right past her and over her. Once she was in, Io closed the door and locked it.

"Baggag!" All the Grunts ran up to their squad leader. Baggag groaned in pain.

"Stand aside! He needs urgent medical attention!" Mawyaw the squad's medic squeaked. Elites gave the role of medic to Grunts because they didn't see any honor in it.

"Not him, you fools," the wounded Ultra Elite choked with blood coming out of his mouth. "Leave him," he ordered.

Mawyaw looked at another Grunt, Flapyip, and nodded. There was no way they were going to abandon their friend but if they disobeyed the Ultra he could have them put to death. Every Grunt knew what had to be done. Flapyip walked over to the dying Ultra and pointed his plasma pistol at his commander's head.

"There are two Elites and four Grunts coming around the corner in front of you," Io warned her.

"Got it!" Jaimie said as she readied a frag grenade. As soon as the Elites turned the corner they saw the grenade bounce of the floor and land right in front of them. One of them jumped to the side to avoid it but due to the narrowness of the corridors this was hardly a safe distance away. The second Elite tired to run back around the corner only to bump into and trip over the Grunts running into him. The grenade exploded killing all the Grunts in the blast and damaging the Elite's shields. Jaimie quickly threw another one which finished what the first one started.

"Up ahead, there will be a door to your right. Four Elite special operations commandos are opening it manually."

Jaimie sprinted up to where the door was and pulled out her last fragmentation grenade. Slowly the door began to slide open revealing the Elites. Jaimie tossed the last grenade into the opening. A loud explosion and several angry growls followed. But their shields were only weakened. Jaimie aimed her shotgun at one of the Elites opening the door and fired point blank, literally blowing his elongated head to pieces. She then did the same to another one.

Usze Taham suddenly reached inside and yanked the weapon out of her hands. Jaimie cursed and quickly reached behind her back for her assault rifle as the Elite squeezed his way through the partially opened door. She sprayed his shields with bullets for about a second before he swatted the weapon out of her hands. He then threw a punch but she dropped to the ground and swept his legs out from under him. Once he was on the ground she jumped on top of him with her knife raised and tried to bring it down on his throat where there was a gap in his shields. However he caught her hand just in time.

"Do not shoot!" he roared at his Elites who were uneasily watching with their weapons pointed at what had to be a human. It all made sense now. This was why the Brute fleet had been destroyed along with the _Pinnacle of Salvation._ This was why all the Brutes in the ship were dead from projectile wounds and why there was a construct in the ship's computer. And why the Luminary thought there were Forerunner artifacts in the ship. What it had detected were the Reclaimers.

This was the first time Jaimie had engaged an Elite in hand to hand combat. Although her augmentations made her stronger and faster than any normal human, without the added increase of MJOLNIR Mark V power armor, Elites were stronger. She struggled with all her strength but the Elite managed to wrestle his way on top of her. He reared his fist back and threw a solid punch to the face cracking her visor. Growling, he punched her again cracking it some more. He reared his fist back a third time and just when Jaimie thought the was going to punch straight through and smash her face he stopped. He turned to his Elites that were watching and snarled something in his language that Jaimie didn't understand.

"Contact the _Shadow of Intent _and inform the ship master of what we have found!"

She had a flashback of the ONI agent who recruited her. _They can kill an Elite with their bare hands...And Elites are really strong...but not as strong as a Spartan._ She smiled and thought, _Liar. _

Then the Elite did something Jaimie never in her life would have expected. He leaned forward and snarled in perfect English, "The only reason I have not killed you yet is because I have learned to respect your kind..._Spartan._"

**Usze Taham and Ntho Sraom are playable characters in Halo 3's four person co-op. I decided to add them into the story as well.**

**Oh and Noble Team was one of the few Spartan IIIs to have MJOLNIR armor. Most Spartan IIIs had the much inferior SPI armor which has no shields.**


	3. Chapter 3

**In this chapter the Arbiter and Half Jaw tell Jaimie that the war is over and she is now in their debt for killing their comrades.**

Jaimie's eyes widened with shock. "You...can..._talk_?" she gasped at the alien that was holding her down.

She knew the Covenant had translation software on their ships but she didn't know that individual soldiers knew her language. What was even more surprising was that it had identified her as a Spartan.

"Jaimie, shall I initiate self destruct?" she heard Io's voice in her helmet.

"Hang on Io," she whispered.

"Many high ranking warriors are required to learn your most common language, _Inglish_," the Elite explained. "Now, you have killed two of my Elites. I want to know why you have done so," it growled in it's inhuman voice.

"Why did I kill your Elites?" Jaimie couldn't believe the Elite was actually asking her such a stupid question.

"Because we're in a war you stupid reptilian bastard!" she screamed at him. You're trying to exterminate my species, that's why! Why'd you glass my planet, Miridem, huh? Why'd you have to kill my family?"

"Leader, what is the demon saying?" Ntho Sraom asked his team leader.

"This _Spartan_," Usze emphasized the correct term as he struggled to hold her down, "does not seem to know that we are no longer at war with the humans."

"That is a Spartan, then?" the third special ops Elite, Sel Fatham, asked.

"It has to be. It is stronger than the typical human but not nearly as strong as the Spartan we fought beside on the Ark," Usze replied.

"But it is also much smaller than that Spartan," Ntho observed. "Perhaps it is only a young Spartan."

Jaimie had no idea what the Elites were saying in their alien language. But she decided to interrupt their conversation. "I don't care if you kill me," she said getting their attention. "You know why? Because we destroyed your refit station and a whole fleet of your ships. You hear that, we killed thousands of you. This is still a major victory for us and by killing me you can't change that."

"_You _destroyed the _Pinnacle of Salvation _and the fleet around it?" Usze asked in amazement.

"That's right," Jaimie proudly told him. "Well, I can't take all the credit. It was all of Gamma company. But I personally killed plenty of your comrades. And I enjoyed it too. So go ahead and kill me," she dared him. As soon as she died Io would blow them all to hell.

"There are two things you do not know, Spartan," Usze said to her. "First, you have inflicted a massive defeat on the _Brutes_, not us. And second, the war between your kind and mine has ended. We are no longer part of the Covenant."

Jaimie didn't believe him for a second. "You actually expect me to buy that bullshit?" she asked.

The Elite was confused. "No, I am not trying to sell you anything. I am trying to tell you that our people are no longer enemies and you have mistakenly killed your allies."

But Jaimie wouldn't hear any of it, "You're not my allies! You've been my enemy ever since you glassed my planet and killed my parents and best friend when I was only seven!"

"Listen to me," Usze said trying his best to be patient. "If I were your enemy I would have killed you already. You are still alive because I speak the truth."

"Maybe, you just want to take me prisoner so you can find out where Earth is! It's not going to work you split chinned freak!" She managed to wriggle one of her hands free and punched him hard in the face. Usze grunted in pain, grabbed her wrist and pinned it down again.

"You stubborn fool!" he roared out of frustration. "We have known the location of Earth for some time now! There is no reason for me to keep you alive! I should actually execute you for killing my Elites but I am trying to be reasonable because I know that it was a mistake!"

But the young Spartan simply responded with a string of profanity which Usze did not have the literal translation of but he understood that they were probably insults. He turned to his fellow Elites and said, "It is no use. The young one is blinded by hatred and will not listen to anything I say."

"If only there was some way we could prove that we are no longer at war with the humans," Ntho said.

"It matters not! Mnao and Tsal are dead are they not?" Sel Fatham reminded his team. "Leader, we must avenge them!"

"No," Usze calmly replied. "I feel just as enraged as you, my brother, but the Spartan's fate will be up to the supreme commander. He is on his way now."

Sel strongly disagreed with Usze but did not dare question his decision as per Elite custom.

Just then Jaimie heard Io's voice in her helmet.

"Jaimie, thanks to the translation software in this ship's computer I have successfully managed to understand everything that the Elites have said to each other while they were on this ship. This may sound hard to believe but these Elites seem to actually believe that they are no longer at war with humanity. However, one of them does want to execute you for killing the two members of its team. The leader who is holding you down has said that it will ultimately be the decision of the commander of this fleet who is coming here right now. Now if you want I can initiate self destruct while the commander is on board and do my best to prevent any Covenant from escaping the ship. Or if you chose to believe that the Elites are telling the truth, you can arrange for your fellow Spartans to be taken back to UNSC space. The decision is yours, Spartan."

Jaimie honestly didn't care if the Elites were going to execute her, she was planning on dying anyway. But here was the long awaited chance for Gamma company to return home after ONI had abandoned them. But then, Jaimie didn't even believe that the Elite's were telling the truth. Why would the Elites glass planets, kill billions of humans for three decades, and suddenly stop?

And this fleet commander character was obviously a very high ranking individual if he commanded almost a hundred ships. Blowing him up would deal yet another huge blow to the enemy on top of what Gamma company had already done. It didn't even matter to her if they were no longer at war. She still hated them and would always hate them for what the took from her. But still, a chance for Gamma company, or what was left of it, to return back to the UNSC... She decided to find out some more before making her decision and in any case, she still had to wait for the supreme commander to get on board the ship before telling Io to self destruct.

"So, you're really telling the truth?" she asked the Elite on top of her.

"I give you my word, on the blood of my father, on the blood of my son," the alien replied.

"Can you get off me then?"

The Elite growled menacingly and said, "I will not risk you harming another one of my Elites."

"I won't. I promise."

"Sorry, I do not trust your human sense of honor that much," he snarled.

"Okay, well, how about you take my weapons?" Jaimie offered. If they wanted to kill her they would have already done so and if she wanted to kill them she could have Io self destruct the ship so she really didn't need her weapons anymore. "Come on, there's three of you watching me. I couldn't even beat _you_, hand to hand," she pointed out.

Usze thought about it. He turned to Ntho and Sel and said something to them. They aimed their plasma repeaters at her. "If you try to hit me I will make you regret it," Usze warned her. He then let go of her and stood up. "Give me your weapons," he commanded.

Jaimie picked up her knife from the floor and handed it to him. "My MA5 is right over there where you knocked it, and my shotgun's right where you threw it at," she told him.

"Then leave them there. You will _sit_ over here," he told her.

Jaimie scowled at him and sat down. She then took off her helmet with the visor that was completely cracked. The Elites just stared at her in awe. Spartans had become so legendary among the Covenant that sometimes they forgot that they were still humans. They did not expect to see an ordinary human face underneath her helmet. And the only other Spartan that Usze Taham had seen had _never _taken his helmet off.

Most Elites could not tell the difference between the human genders or even tell one human apart from another. They were, after all, another species. But after fighting by their side on the Ark, and getting to know some of them, Usze could spot the differences. One of the human commanders,_ Meranda Keez, _if he remembered her name correctly, was female, while the one known as _Jahnsen_ was male. This Spartan was a female.

"I want to know how we're not enemies anymore," she demanded. "Tell me everything that I missed while I was stranded out here."

"The supreme commander will tell you all you need to know," Usze grunted.

Jaimie wished she could talk to Io but while she could hear her when she was wearing her helmet she couldn't talk back without the Elites overhearing. As she leaned her head back against the wall, she wondered if the Elites had found the rest of Gamma company sleeping in cryo. The Elite that was holding her down didn't mention anything to her. If they did and they really were telling the truth, they wouldn't harm them. She tried to piece together the few details Usze had given her. Elites were no longer part of the Covenant. They were no longer at war with humanity. But did that mean humanity was still at war with the rest of the Covenant?

The only other race she could picture leading the Covenant military was the Brutes. Gamma company had faced hundreds of them in their last mission. They killed many Spartans, but the Spartans killed many more of them. Only the high ranking Brutes had full body shielding like Elites but even the majority of them who didn't have shields were very tough and resilient. And they were much stronger than the Spartans were. The easiest way to kill them, she had learned, was by shooting them in the head which sucked if the Brute had shields. And although the didn't act like it sometimes, Brutes were intelligent enough to do everything that Elites could do.

"Supreme Commander! Ship Master! You honor us with your presence!" Usze Taham said as he bowed with respect. The other Elite's did the same, although keeping an eye on their prisoner at the same time.

Jaimie looked up at the new arrivals without bothering to stand. There were four Elites, two of whom were red armored Majors, probably just body guards for the third and fourth one who was most likely the fleet commander. From the classes she received on Onyx, she expected him to have the usual gold armor of Elites in command. Instead he was wearing some strange, gray, ancient looking armor that reminded her of the armor worn by soldiers of ancient empires on Earth thousands of years ago.

The other Elite was wearing silver armor that looked a little bit like the white armor of an Ultra Elite but not quite the same. She didn't know what rank he was either. She didn't know why the Covenant would make it so obvious who the high ranking commanders were. It just made them targets for snipers. Then she noticed that the silver Elite was missing two of his mandibles. He had obviously been through a lot of combat. Just like the other three special ops Elites, the new arrivals stared at Jaimie in awe. They had also never seen a Spartan without a helmet.

"I am Rtas Vadum, ship master of the assault carrier _Shadow of Intent_,"the silver half jawed Elite introduced himself in fluent English._ "_So _you _are the Spartan that killed seven of my Elites?"

"That's right," Jaimie answered proudly. She stared this half jawed freak right in the eyes to show that she wasn't scared of him.

"Why are you so small?" he asked unexpectedly.

Jaimie was taken aback by such a random question. "Huh?"

"You are only the size of an average human. The only other Spartan I know was much larger than you," Rtas told her.

Jaimie didn't know what the hell he was talking about. Thanks to the augmentations done to her bones, she was six feet tall which was well above the average human female although this was still much smaller than an average Elite. The rest of Gamma company wasn't much different. The females were around six feet while the males were around six five. Then tallest Spartan in Gamma company, Dwayne G123, was six eight.

"What other Spartan?" she asked.

"The one known by his rank of Master Chief," the silver Elite answered.

"Oh," Jaimie said now understanding. The Chief was a Spartan II like Lieutenant Commander Ambrose from Onyx.

"That's because he was the previous model of Spartan. They had the best genes out of the whole human population," Jaimie explained. "It was the only way they could survive their augmentations which were a lot more dangerous back then. By the time I became a Spartan, technology had improved and they could augment just about anybody. We didn't need to have the best of the best genes."

"So what you are saying is that you are an inferior type of Spartan?" Rtas tried to understand.

"What? No! Where the hell did you get that from? Just because I'm not as tall?"

"Not only are you smaller but you are much physically weaker," the silver Elite added. "My Elite here managed to overpower you, did he not?"

"I'm only fifteen!" Jaimie protested indignantly. "And I don't have MJOLNIR power armor like the Chief does!"

"Ship master, she is only a young Spartan. She is still an inexperienced warrior and her armor is far inferior to what the Spartan on the Ark had. It did not even have shields and I managed to crack the visor with one punch," Usze told Rtas.

"But yet she managed to kill seven of our warriors," the ship master remarked feeling a little impressed.

"And the reason she did that is because she did know nor does she want to believe that we are no longer at war with the humans. She did not even know that we found Earth long ago. I have tried to talk to her but she is defiant."

"Could it be that she was on some secret mission where she was cut off from her command for too long?" the supreme commander wondered.

"She was, supreme commander. She and her unit were sent to destroy the _Pinnacle of Salvation _and the Brute ships around it," Usze said.

"Of course. Now it all makes sense," Rtas said. "But I don't know whether to thank them or punish them. On one hand, these Spartans destroyed more than a hundred enemy ships. But on the other hand, they deprived us of a refit station that we badly need!"

"In case you are wondering," the supreme commander addressed Jaimie in English, "We have found your friends in the hibernation chambers."

At the mention of Gamma company her eyes widened and she immediately sat up straight. She looked at the supreme commander nervously. Every Elite that saw her reaction now knew her weakness.

"I give you my word that they are unharmed," the supreme commander continued. "But I was stunned to see so many Spartans. I thought there was only one left."

Jaimie felt incredibly relieved. She knew that if this Elite wasn't telling the truth then Io would have told her and she would have self destructed. None of these Elites knew that in fact they were _her _prisoners and she could kill them whenever she wanted. Now was probably the best time to ask so she stood up.

"Those Spartans need urgent medical attention," she said to the supreme commander. "If you really are our allies like you say you are then you'll give us a ride back to UNSC space. Right?"

The supreme commander turned to his underlings and began to discuss the matter amongst themselves.

"Io, are they bullshitting me or not?" she asked causing all of them to stop talking and look at her.

"I am now absolutely sure that they are telling you the truth," the A.I.'s voice came from the ship's speakers startling the Elites. "They are saying they will take half your Spartans back to Earth."

"You have a construct in the ship's computer!" Rtas Vadum exclaimed.

"That's right and she's been listening to everything you guys have been saying," Jaimie replied. "But why only half?"

"Because, we need the other half for leverage," Rtas Vadum answered.

"Leverage? For what?"

"Leverage over you, Spartan."

"I don't understand," Jaimie said feeling confused.

"You have killed seven of our warriors even though the war between us has ended," the supreme commander told her. "Therefore, you have committed a crime. If we wish, we can end your life for spilling our brothers' blood."

Jaimie couldn't believe the hypocrisy she was hearing. "A crime? Are you being serious, right now? Killing a few Elites is a crime but glassing entire planets, killing billions of human civilians who didn't do anything to you, kids even, is not a crime?" she angrily asked them.

The Elites didn't say anything but all of them broke eye contact with her and Jaimie could tell that what she said made them uncomfortable. There was a very awkward silence.

"No you're right," she continued. "Crime doesn't even begin to describe what you did. Atrocity, genocide, holocaust, ethnic cleansing..."

"Look human," the silver ship master interrupted her. "We have already atoned for our mistakes. Now you must do the same."

"What the hell are you talking about? How have you 'atoned'?" Jaimie asked incredulously.

"We have saved your planet not once, but twice. First we stopped the Flood from spreading and consuming every human on Earth, then we saved your species from extinction when we helped stop the Prophet of Truth from firing the Halo rings. Mnao and Tsal were among the Elites who fought on the Ark for your survival. Every sentient being in the galaxy, including you, owes their lives to them. And you just killed them. You are now in our _Gnunk Thrao._"

Jaimie felt incredibly confused. "I still have no idea what you're talking about!"

"The literal translation is 'blood debt'," Io chimed in. "But I do not know what the ship master means when he refers to a flood, halo rings, or an ark."

"We will tell you everything soon enough," the supreme commander said. "But your construct has translated accurately. You have spilled the blood of our brothers, therefore you are in our blood debt. The only way you can free yourself from this blood debt is if we spill your blood, or..."

"Okay fine! I don't care if you kill me but why are you only taking half my Spartans back home? They didn't do anything to your Elites!"

"Because we do not plan on killing you. The other way you can free yourself from a blood debt is by spilling the blood of others for us. You will assist us in our war against the Brutes," the supreme commander said.

"Ship master, supreme commander, her construct also destroyed some of our Seraphs, and almost killed us. Human constructs are superior to our own. Perhaps we can use it as well," Usze Fatham suggested.

"Not only you, but your construct is in our blood debt as well!" Rtas Vadum announced, almost gloating with happiness. A.I.'s were one of the only technologies the humans had which were more advanced than their Covenant counterparts and he was just thrilled by the idea of having one on the _Shadow of Intent. _It would be a huge asset.

"Wait a minute, you guys glassed my planet, killed my family, and my sole purpose in life for all these years has been killing you bastards! The war might be over but what the hell makes you think I would want to help you?" Jaimie said spitefully. "You might as well kill me because I would _never..."_

"That's what I meant when I said we needed leverage, Spartan," Rtas Vadum said making her instantly shut up.

"If you refuse, if you falter in your service to us, we shall leave half your Spartans stranded on some random deserted planet where your government shall never find them. We shall make sure that your government does not even know they are alive. The other half will still be returned to Earth as promised, and we shall pretend as if they are the only survivors that we found."

"However, when you earn your freedom or if you are killed in service, we give you our word that the remaining Spartans will be returned as well as your construct," the supreme commander said.

"But those Spartans _need _medical attention _now,_" Jaimie implored him.

"As long as we keep them in hibernation they cannot die from their injuries," he replied.

Jaimie sighed frustratedly. There was no other way out of this. She had to do it for her Spartans, even though she hated the Elites and didn't trust them.

"Okay so I just have to kill seven Brutes and I'm free, right?" she clarified before accepting. That was easily do able.

"Seven? Of course not. You'll be free when we decide you have done enough," Rtas told her.

"What? I only killed seven Elites!"

"Yes but to us the life of one Elite is worth several Brutes."

"Hey! That's not fair!" she yelled at him clenching her fists in rage.

"Yes but I think one thing humans and Elites can both agree on is that sometimes, life is not fair," Rtas Vadum coldly replied. "And let us not forget that you have also destroyed a very important refit station that we badly needed to repair our ships. Anyway it is your decision human. We will give you some time. Come brothers, let us leave our young friend to ponder over her choice."

**Some of the names here are not spelled correctly like Miranda Keyes and Johnson but that's on purpose. That's because the Elites don't know the correct spelling, they're just guessing based on how it's pronounced. Next chapter is gonna be kind of slow. She writes about her training on Onyx, the Arbiter fills her in on everything she missed. Also for me it's back to life so I can't update every day anymore.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Takes place a few weeks after the last chapter.**

"Brontanus, there are those who say that the Prophets have gone on the Great Journey and left us behind. Do you believe this?" Elidius asked his older pack brother. Sometime after the Covenant civil war started, the religious leaders of the Covenant mysteriously disappeared. What Elidius said was one very widely believed theory among the Brutes.

"I do not believe such a ridiculous story," Brontanus replied confidently. "Why would they go on the Journey and leave their loyal servants behind? And how would they have done it? The only way to start the Journey is to light the holy rings and if that happens, every creature in the galaxy with faith in our lords would have transcended, even the lowly Grunts. This is what the Prophets have taught us. So how could they have gone on the Journey without anyone else?"

"Then what do you think has happened to them?" Elidius asked. "Why would they suddenly vanish?"

Brontanus thought about it for a few seconds of silence. He then said, "The Prophets told us that they came from a world that was destroyed long ago. Those who escaped made High Charity their home world. But after the holy city fell to the Flood, perhaps...perhaps their race is no more. It is quite possible since there were never that many of them in the first place."

Elidius grunted in agreement. "It is a strong possibility. But what shall our race do without their guidance and leadership?" he asked.

"Isn't it obvious? The Prophets might have become extinct but they have left us with such formidable gifts. We shall use them to continue their mission and make their dream a reality. But first we must conquer all the other factions and reunite our noble race under our Commander Hadeadus. For he is the only Chieftain fit to rule all Brutes. Then we shall remake the Covenant with our race as the ruling and primary military caste. The Elites will be beneath us and we shall treat them the way they treated us. And then we can finally focus on starting the Great Journey and we shall succeed where the holy ones have failed. But for now, let us not think about any of that. We are far from the front lines and this is our time to relax."

The two Brutes were looking down a steep cliff as they talked. Behind them, leaning against a large boulder, three Grunts were fast asleep. Further up ahead two Jackals mercenaries were having their own conversation about how bad it sucked to work for this particular Brute faction. None of the aliens knew that they were all being watched through the scope of a beam rifle by Sel Fatham who was perched high up in a tree. The distortion effect from his active camouflage was hidden by the dark night and to anyone on the ground, he would have been completely invisible.

"Leader, there are two Brutes, three sleeping Grunts, and two Jackals. The Brutes have their backs turned to us and are not in the Jackals' line of sight. There is no way around them," he reported.

"Very well," the voice of special ops commander, Usze Taham, came through the COM link. "The Spartan and I shall move in and take them out quietly. Cover us, in case something should go wrong."

"Yes, leader," Sel replied even though he wished that it was him on the ground fighting the Brutes up close and personal instead of being up here in this tree. He watched through his scope as a black shadowy figure moved up behind the Brutes without making a sound.

Jaimie G127 was the only team member who didn't have active camouflage, however, the photo reactive panels on her SPI armor could change color and texture to blend in with her surroundings. In this case, her armor had turned jet black. The Engineers working on the _Shadow of Intent_ didn't have time to install energy shields or active camouflage into her armor because they had their hands full just keeping the ship from falling apart. But at least they replaced her broken visor with another one from one of her teammates. And they also installed translation software into her helmet so whenever one of her teammates said something, she would see a translation in English on her HUD. They had similar software installed so they could understand her. It was a slower way to communicate than regular talking but it was better than nothing.

Both Jaimie and Usze Taham slowly crept up on their respective targets whose backs were turned to them. The Brutes weren't even looking at each other as they talked which would make it so much easier to take them both out at the same time. Once Jaimie was right behind her Brute, she jumped up on the much taller alien's back, reached around and slit its throat with her combat knife. The Brute was interrupted right in the middle of talking. Blood sprayed out of the wound and it clutched its throat in surprise but the vocal cords were cut and it couldn't warn the rest of his squad besides make a choking gurgling sound. At the same time Usze grabbed the other Brute's head and suddenly twisted it, snapping its neck. Both of them pushed the Brutes off the edge of the cliff simultaneously.

Next, the Spartan and the Elite took out the three sleeping Grunts easily by smashing their skulls with the butts of their weapons. But they couldn't sneak up on the Jackals from behind because unlike the Brutes they were actually looking at each other so they could see behind each other. With their excellent vision they would be able to see the distortion effect of Usze's active camouflage and Jaimie didn't even have active camouflage. Jaimie crouched down low and peeked around the boulder to get a good look at them. They were engaged in their own conversation. She began to read the translation text on her HUD.

"That's exactly what I've been saying this whole time," Jok squawked to his friend Yak. "Hadeadus doesn't pay us nearly enough, his Brutes treat us like we're even lower than the gas suckers, and we're expected to risk our lives fighting the Elites for him?"

"We're not slaves like the Grunts," Yak agreed. "We're mercenaries and if these Brutes want our services they better pay for them or we'll just join another faction like Fawk did."

Without warning, the knife came spinning out of the darkness and imbedded itself right in Jok's skull. Before Yak even knew what happened and had time to duck behind his shield, a thin blue beam passed through his head causing it to explode. His decapitated body fell right next to Jok's. Sel Fatham chuckled, feeling satisfied that he finally got a kill, even if it wasn't a very honorable one by Elite standards. "Leader, all enemies are dead. We are clear to proceed," he said.

"Very well. Nice shooting. Come down and join us with the rest of the team so we may continue," Usze replied.

Sel fearlessly jumped down from the tree and landed perfectly. His double jointed legs were designed by eons of evolution for jumping and absorbing impacts from landing. Climbing, however, was a much different story. His species sucked at it and getting up that tree had been a major pain in the ass for the Elite. It was one of the reasons why he hated being a sniper. The other reason was that in Elite culture, killing someone from far away where they couldn't even see you was not considered very honorable. Elites preferred close combat and left the sniping role to Jackals who were more than happy to take it. But now that the Jackals were no longer on their side, many of their best shooters, like Sel Fatham, were forced to become designated marksmen and snipers out of necessity.

Six barely visible shapes came out of the bushes, all cloaked with active camouflage. It was fellow special ops Elite, Ntho Sraom, and the five special ops Grunts. "How did the demon perform?" Ntho asked curiously.

"She is a skilled assassin," Sel admitted. "But we already knew that. I want to see how well she fights when her cover is blown." He was not very impressed by what he saw when he first met her. Once her stealth was gone she was easily disarmed and subdued by his leader who didn't even bother using a weapon on her. The two Elites and five Grunts made their way to their leader.

"Nice throw," Usze growled as Jaimie pulled her knife out of the dead Jackal's skull. To her, no matter what this Elite leader said, his alien voice always sounded like he was growling. "You are well trained with that blade. Let us hope you are equally good at throwing plasma grenades."

Jaimie was about to tell him that she killed one of his fellow Elites that way not too long ago but decided it probably wasn't a good idea. They already hated her enough. She just kept quiet as she dragged the Jackal's body to the edge of the cliff and rolled it off. "You seem much more...silent than you were in our first meeting," Usze continued as she walked back to the body of the second Jackal.

"That's because we're in the middle of a mission," she reminded him as she grabbed the headless corpse by the ankles and began dragging it away. "Don't they teach you guys noise discipline?"

Her response made the team leader chuckle. Humans and Elites had similar sounding laughs but with this Elite's voice, he sounded plain sinister. "Of course."

Seven yellow dots appeared on her motion tracker. She turned around to look and didn't see anyone but she could hear them there. It was the rest of the team, all active camouflaged. By now Jaimie knew all their names and roles. There was Sel Fatham, the second in command, and the team's designated marksman. He was the one who took out the second Jackal next to the one she knifed. Jaimie had to admit he was an excellent shot with the beam rifle.

Ntho Sraom was the newest Elite in the team and second newest member after her. Even the Grunts were here before he was. By the time he joined the special ops community, the Covenant civil war had already begun and he never got a chance to fight against the humans, only the Brutes and their allies. But he did fight alongside the humans on Earth and later, the Ark. His main weapon was a plasma repeater.

Usze Taham was the leader of this team and the Elite who disarmed her on the corvette but chose not to execute her even though she killed two of his Elites. She was surprised by this because _she _certainly wouldn't have given him the same courtesy if he killed two of her Spartans. But Usze cared more about his code of honor than his personal vengeance. He was the only Elite on the team who spoke English and understood what she said without using the translator. His weapon of choice was a concussion rifle.

As for Jaimie, she chose a needle rifle because as a projectile firing weapon it was the most similar to the ballistic firearms that she was used to. There should have been one more Elite on the team since she killed two and she was replacing one. Word was, the new replacement was arriving very soon from another ship soon after this mission. Then there was Blacow, Padalo, Flatyap, Tagbad, and Zamamo, the five Grunts. Blacow and Padalo could be described as the team's 'machine gunners' who used portable automatic plasma cannons. Zamamo used a fuel rod cannon. On this special ops team, every member depended on each other and the Grunts were considered as important as the Elites. Well, maybe not quite as important, but they definitely weren't used as cannon fodder.

Once all the bodies were at the bottom of the cliff, Usze ordered the team to move forward with Jaimie taking point. She didn't see the logic in being at the very front because she wasn't nearly as well protected or as well camouflaged as the Elites were but she would be the first one to get shot if the enemy were to find them. But that's probably what the Elites wanted because they didn't consider her life as valuable as theirs or even their Grunts. They still hadn't forgiven her for killing their two teammates. They probably hoped she would attract all the hostile fire, while they would hide behind their active camouflage and take the enemies out stealthily. Basically, she was being used like a Grunt when even the Grunts in this team weren't used like regular Grunts. But Jaimie didn't want to argue so she just did what she was told. She just wanted to get this mission over with and get back to the _Shadow of Intent_ where Io was. The A.I was her only friend on that gigantic ship.

She hoped that if she did well on this mission the Elites would reward her by letting her and her remaining Spartans go home but she doubted it. They would more likely just use her on mission after mission until she was killed. The war between them might have been over but she still had a lot of hatred for the Elites. However, she did accept that they were a lesser evil than the Brutes. Just before Gamma Company was deployed, she heard stories about what happened on Beta Gabriel. How the Brutes slaughtered the entire human population on the planet and used them for food and entertainment. Elites killed civilians too but the Brutes sadistically tortured any human civilians they captured and often tore them apart ate them alive.

This particular mission, the team was supposed to assassinate a high value target. A Brute Army Commander named Hadeadus. He was a quite brilliant tactician whose troops defeated the Elites in numerous ground engagements on many planets and shattered the myth that Brutes were all brawn and no brain. Right now, he and some of his troops were taking a break from war and vacationing on this planet for a short while before returning to the fight. The planet was located deep inside Brute controlled space. There was no way the Elites could get this far into Brute territory without alerting the Brute ships. So they had to rely on the Jackals. They were like mercenaries in the post-Covenant. They worked for anyone who paid them. They were used by different Brute factions and often fought against each other. However, none of them fought for the Elites because the Elites had previously refused to pay them. For this mission they were willing to make an exception. Thel Vadam, the Supreme Commander of their fleet, had come into contact with Gyur'R'Dat, a Jackal ship mistress who was unhappy with how much Hadeadus was paying her so she was trying to defect. Thel offered to reward her by giving her a fully functional Covenant frigate, which was far superior to the Jackals' pirate ships, if she agreed to sneak them to and off this planet.

All of a sudden, Jaimie's thoughts were interrupted as she could have sworn she saw something jumping from one tree to another several meters in front of them. Even with night vision, the movement was hard to pick up from this distance and the only reason she noticed it was because her eyes were specifically augmented to be sensitive to motion. She immediately dropped down into the prone and looked through the scope of her needle rifle. Behind her, the rest of the team froze and didn't make a sound. Jaimie saw three Skirmisher snipers in a tree. They were all alert and pointing their weapons in her direction. They must have heard them walking through the woods with their excellent sense of hearing. But they couldn't see them yet because Elites and Grunts were almost invisible in the dark while her armor had changed appearance to blend in with the dirt and vegetation on the ground. As long as she didn't move they would just think she was a rock or something.

"Spartan, what do you see?" Usze's voice whispered over the COM link.

"Snipers. Three of them in that tree up ahead. You want me to take them out?" she asked. She was in position to get a perfect headshot on one of them.

"No. Your weapon is too loud. It will compromise our stealth. Leave it to Sel. His weapon is much quieter."

That was true. Her needle rifle made a very unusual noise that sounded like shattering glass when it was fired.

"Okay but tell him to hurry up. I think these guys onto me."

One of the Skirmishers was looking directly at her curiously. Like it was no longer sure if she was just a rock on the ground or a very well camouflaged enemy. Jaimie didn't have shields so one shot from its weapon could easily penetrate her SPI armor which was designed to protect her from a few plasma bolts not particle beams. Just before the Skirmisher pulled the trigger, however, she heard Sel's beam rifle hiss behind her and the Skirmisher's head exploded. But as the particle beam passed through the air it left behind a trail of glowing ionized air that gave away his position. The snipers couldn't see him with his active camouflage but they could easily trace the source of his beams. Sel knew this and as soon as he took the first shot he immediately dove to the side and rolled back onto his feet. Two beams flew through the air where he was just standing, missing him. Sel fired another shot and another sniper fell. He quickly dropped into the prone and a beam passed right over his body. He fired the third shot and finished off the final sniper.

Jaimie carefully scanned the trees in front of them for more snipers but those three were it. "All clear," she said finally when she was absolutely sure. She got back on her feet.

"Good work, both of you," Usze said. "This is why you are in the front, Spartan. Those snipers could have easily killed one of us before we knew they were there but you managed to spot them first. Your powers of observation rival that of any Jackal."

"Is that why? I thought you put me up here to give the enemy something to shoot at."

"Don't be ridiculous, you idiot," Usze snarled. "We may not like you but you are now a member of our team and we depend on you to do your part to complete the mission. For that reason alone we will not unnecessarily risk your life."

"Sorry," Jaimie mumbled. The Elite nodded accepting her apology.

Not too far away, they heard many Brutes howling loudly. Their howls echoed through the forest. It made them all uneasy except for Usze.

"What was that about?" Jaimie asked.

"Perhaps they have discovered our presence in this forest," Ntho said.

"No, they are just celebrating," Usze told them. "Trust me, I know a little bit about Brutes. They probably just finished a hunt. But they will eventually realize that something is wrong when they try to communicate with that patrol we killed, not to mention, these three snipers. We must pick up the pace."

A short while later at the Brute camp, many Brutes cheered happily and pounded their chests with their fists when they saw the hunting party return with their dinner. A large thorn beast that was so big that even with their combined strength it took all ten of the Brutes to carry its body back to the camp. The Brutes' mouths began watering at the sight of the freshly killed animal. "My pack brothers! Tonight we shall feast!" a white haired Brute wearing red armor declared and they all began cheering again.

"Commander Hadeadus!" a voice called in the middle of all the cheering. The white haired Brute turned to look and saw his friend, a Brute War Chieftain named Tyrannus running towards him. He stopped next to him and caught his breath. He looked very worried and this worried Hadeadus.

"Tyrannus my friend, what is troubling you? Is there bad news from the front?" he asked hoping that his vacation wasn't going to be cut short. So far he was having a great time.

"One of our packs patrolling the woods stopped communicating with us. So I sent some other packs to go look for them. At first they did not find anything. But they did smell some blood on the ground next to a cliff. Logically, they looked down the cliff and found the bodies of the pack at the bottom. I think it is safe to say we have intruders on our planet."

Hadeadus let out a deep growl. "But how can that be? This planet is far from the front lines. There is no way the Elites could have landed troops here without our ships intercepting them."

"It is probably not the Elites, Commander. It must be one of our rival factions. And they must have had help from someone on our side," Tyrannus suggested.

Hadeadus grunted in agreement. "Yes that is a more reasonable explanation. It is possible that some of my Brutes are looking to defect to another faction and decided to help them by killing me. How sad that we Brutes continue to fight amongst each other when we should all be united against the Elites."

"What do you want to do, Commander?" Tyrannus asked.

"We shall prepare ourselves for a fight. I want every pack of ours to comb the woods looking for these intruders."

Tyrannus bowed. "I shall relay your orders to all the Chieftains."

Just then a thin blue beam came out of the trees and hit Hadeadus in the head causing his shields to light up as they absorbed the damage. He turned around and roared in anger. Every Brute in the camp stopped talking and looked at him.

"We are under attack!" Tyrannus shouted and un slung his massive heavy plasma cannon. "Commander, get behind something! I shall cover you!" As Hadeadus frantically made a run for it he was hit by another beam which further drained his shields but wasn't enough to overload them completely. This time Tyrannus saw where the beam was coming from. "There you are!" he roared and opened fire on the tree with his plasma cannon. The brightly glowing plasma bolts were like tracer rounds and every Brute could see where he was shooting at. They all joined him with their spikers and brute shots.

"Aaah! Curse you all!" Sel yelled in frustration as his target disappeared behind a large rock and his position was exposed. He jumped down from the tree just before it was torn apart by a storm of razor sharp projectiles, grenades, and plasma. "Leader, I have failed to snipe him!"

"Very well, begin the attack!" Usze ordered over the COM link.

The two Grunts, Blacow and Padalo, opened fire on the Brutes with their plasma cannons while Zamamo launched explosive radioactive projectiles at them. White hot plasma bolts swept over the enemy position, burning through any Brutes that got in their path. Green blobs landed and exploded all over the camp either vaporizing or badly scorching any Brutes that were too close. The Brutes who chose to stay out in the open to return fire were their spikers were either shot down by the superior firepower plasma cannons or blown to bits by the fuel rod cannon.

"Take cover, you fools!" a Brute Captain shouted. But even those that took cover behind trees were still not protected from the fuel rod cannon. Whenever the explosive projectiles hit a tree and exploded, they blew the trunk apart and sent sharp pieces of wood flying into whoever was hiding behind them. One by one, Sel picked them off with his beam rifle. The remaining Brutes did their best to hide behind whatever they could and return fire with their spikers and brute shots even though their weapons were not very accurate from this distance.

Meanwhile, Commander Hadeadus, War Chieftain Tyrannus, a Brutes Captain, and a Brute sniper were hiding behind a boulder. "The Commander is under attack! All packs come here immediately!" a Brute Captain barked over the radio.

Next to him a Brute sniper peeked around the boulder and fired a shot into the distance. "I have killed one of their gunners!" he proudly announced. Several purple plasma bolts hit him from the side, burning into his flesh. He howled in pain and dropped dead. The three remaining Brutes turned to face his killer.

Usze Taham emptied his concussion rifle's power cell at them. The red plasma bolts slammed into them and exploded, severely draining all their shields but killing none of them. He quickly reloaded a new power cell into the weapon while Ntho Sraom finished off the Brute captain's remaining shields with his plasma repeater.

"It was the Elites all along!" Tyrannus yelled in surprise. He opened fire on them with his heavy plasma cannon. The Brute captain helped him out with his brute shot. The two Elites ran for cover as their shields took heavy damage. Three needle rounds came out of nowhere and hit the unshielded Brute captain in the chest and he was torn apart by a pink explosion. Tyrannus and Hadeadus then saw their third enemy. It was not an Elite.

The red armored, white haired Brute who was their high value target pointed his finger at her with rage and roared, "The pack will feast on you!"

"Die demon!" Tyrannus growled as he sprayed her with superheated plasma. Jaimie took cover behind a tree and pulled out her second weapon, a plasma pistol, and began charging it. The intense heat from the plasma cannon began burning though the trunk of the tree. When it was weakened enough, the tree slowly toppled over and fell almost right on top of her. She quickly jumped to the side and it crashed right next to her. She then fired the overcharged bolt at the Chieftain overloading his shields, and followed up with three shots from the needle rifle. Hadeadus watched with fury as his friend was blown apart and raised his gravity hammer above his head and roared loudly. His shields began glowing very brightly.

Usze's and Ntho's shields had just finished recharging and they came out of cover and stared in awe at the glowing Brute. Hadeadus charged straight towards Jaimie who threw a plasma grenade at him. It hit him in the shoulder and stuck to him but the Brute just laughed as the grenade exploded without doing any harm to him. Ntho Sraom sprayed him with his plasma repeater while Jaimie emptied the rest of her magazine into him. It didn't do anything except get the Brute to notice Ntho. The Brute decided to go for the Elite first because he was closer. Ntho kept firing his plasma repeater at him until the rate of fire was starting to slow down from the excess heat. He dropped the weapon, pulled out his energy sword and activated it.

"No, it will not work!" Usze tried to warn him. But the young, overeager Elite ran forward with the sword trying to stab the Brute through the chest.

"Go ahead and try it," Hadeadus dared. He didn't try to block or evade but just stood there with his chest out as Ntho lunged at him. He laughed when the sword was unable to penetrate his brightly glowing shields. Ntho did not give up. He tried to stab him again and again but the Brute swung his gravity hammer and smashed him with it. The air around them became distorted from the energy pulse. In an instant, the young Elite's shields were overloaded and his broken body went flying through the air and landed several meters away.

Hadeadus looked around him for Jaimie. "Come out, demon. It is your turn," he growled. Jaimie popped out from behind a tree and fired an overcharged bolt of plasma which hit him right in the chest. However, it still failed to damage his strange glowing shields. "Do you fools not learn?" the Brute asked then sprinted straight towards her.

"You cannot defeat his shields that way! Run!" Usze's voice said to her over the COM link. The Elite himself was nowhere to be seen, probably active camouflaged himself.

Jaimie turned around and sprinted as fast as she could but Brutes were by no means slow. They might not have been as agile as Elites but in a straight line they could run pretty damn fast, especially when they were pissed off like this one was. Jaimie kept running until she suddenly tripped over a root and fell. She heard the Brute's heavy footsteps coming closer and closer. There was no time to get back up so she rolled onto her back and began firing her needle rifle up at him. The Brute stood there and waited for her to empty her whole magazine. The needle rounds shattered harmlessly against his seemingly invincible shield.

"Foolish, demon. You are no match for me!" He raised his hammer above his head and was just about to bring it down when his shields finally, for whatever reason, stopped glowing. A split second later the tip of an energy sword tore out of his chest. Both Hadeadus and Jaimie stared at it in shock.

"You should have killed her while your Invincibility was protecting you instead of wasting time showing off," Usze growled at him. He then pulled his sword out of the mortally wounded Brute's body. "You were a great warrior, Hadeadus, and you have earned the respect of my people. There is no shame in dying with honor."

The Brute Army Commander realized his fatal mistake. "You may have killed me, Elite. But I am not ready to drop dead this second. I shall take you down with me!" He swung around with his hammer and tried to hit Usze who jumped back. He lunged forward and hit the ground. Once again, the energy pulse caused the air to distort, and even though he didn't directly hit the Elite, the pulse overloaded Usze's shields and knocked him off his feet.

Jaimie surprised the Brute by jumping on his back and stabbed him in the neck with knife. Blood gushed out of his wound but the Brute ignored it. He reached around behind him, grabbed her leg and pulled her off him. He held her upside down for a second and watched her squirm, then tossed her straight up in the air. He pulled his hammer back ready to swat her all the way across the camp as she came back down. Before he could swing though Usze tackled him onto the ground. He stabbed the Brute multiple times with the energy sword. He then beheaded him.

"It is done," he said quietly. "The target has been neutralized."

"Wow, that was one incredibly tough Brute," Jaimie remarked.

"I actually feel regret for killing such an great warrior," Usze confessed.

"You do?" Jaimie asked incredulously. "I'm glad he's dead."

"Leader, we cannot hold these Brutes off forever," Sel's voice came over the COM link. "There are far too many of them. Padalo and Blacow have been killed and Zamamo has been wounded."

"We have lost Ntho as well," Usze said sadly. "But we are victorious. Fall back to the extraction point. I shall contact the ship mistress."

He then contacted Gyur'R'Dat. "Ship mistress, the mission was a success. We shall meet you at the extraction point. Remember, the only way you get paid is if you bring us back alive. So hurry."

"Whatever, I'll be there," the female Jackal squawked in an annoyed tone. "And don't be late or I'm leaving you behind. No amount of payment is worth my life, understand?"

The Elite shut off the COM and turned to Jaimie. "These Jackals have no honor," he snarled with disgust. "This is why we Elites cannot stand them. They have happily betrayed their former employers for a new ship. You can never truly trust someone like that."

"We should get out of here," Jaimie said picking up her needle rifle and loading a new magazine into it. "After all that noise we made Brutes are gonna be all over these woods looking for us."

"You did well this mission," Usze said. "The Supreme Commander will be pleased. And you are now one step closer to getting home."

**Yeah I exaggerated the effect of invincibility. It only lasts like what 15 seconds in the game? But I thought he would make a better boss if it was longer. Also the Brutes in this are like the Brutes in Halo Reach meaning some of them have rechargeable shields like Elites and not that weak ass Halo 3 armor that falls off completely. Some weapons from Reach, like the concussion rifle are still used by my Elites although the Brutes use brute shots.  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't own Halo I'm just a fan. **

**This chapter is just a bunch of talking.  
**

"No! Absolutely not! I'll never allow it!" Fleet Admiral Terence Hood, the highest ranking commander in the UNSC, shouted adamantly, banging his fist on his desk.

"Actually, sir, I think that's a fair compromise," Rear Admiral Margret Parangosky said. She was the head of ONI and one of the most powerful people in the UNSC. But she was still subordinate to Hood and he had just given her a major ass chewing for keeping the Spartan III program a secret from him. "After all, the Arbiter did return all the remaining Spartans survivors."

Hood shot her a piercing look and said, "You would think that, Margret, since you were the one who authorized sending these children to their deaths while keeping their very existence a secret from the rest of us. I pray that there's a hell for you to burn in."

"I did what had to be done to save our species from extinction, sir, and if I have to burn in hell for it then I'll do it with a smile on my face," Parangosky said unrepentantly.

"Your Spartan has killed our warriors, Admiral," Thel Vadam reminded Hood. "Like it or not, she is in our blood debt."

"She didn't know any better!" Hood protested. "The same reason you Elites almost wiped out our species!"

"I know that. It is why we did not execute her," Thel calmly said. Unlike Hood, he was not raising his voice at all because he was in control and despite all the Admiral's anger, there was nothing he could do about it.

"But you still want to force her to fight in your war, like she's some kind of slave?" Hood asked.

"She is not our slave," Thel assured him. "She is only in our blood debt and she will be free once she pays it off."

"Which is when, exactly?" Hood demanded.

"When we decide that she has done enough to counter the damage she has done to our war effort," Thel replied.

"You must be joking. Seven Elites?"

"I am also talking about the refit station and the hundreds of Engineers that we really could have used."

"But she's just a teenager, Arbiter, she shouldn't have even been out there in the first place!" Hood unsuccessfully tried to convince him. "Just look at her! Look at how young she looks!" He pointed to the life size hologram of Jaimie G127, which Thel had brought with him. She was wearing her SPI armor but was holding her helmet by her side. The visor looked cracked. Even though she tried to look tough, Hood could tell that the girl must have been so confused by everything. Being around so many Elites, just after learning they were no longer at war must have been very unnerving.

But Parangosky tried not to roll her eyes. Unlike Hood, she saw Jaimie for what she was. A lethal weapon who despite her age could easily tear apart a regular human with her bare hands and eagerly wanted to fight. If Jaimie was here with them right now, Parangosky knew that the Spartan would strongly disagree with Hood's assessment that she was too young to be fighting. Jaimie wanted a chance to get even with the aliens that killed her family and ONI had given her that chance.

"Actually," Thel said as he carefully studied the hologram then looked back at Hood, then looked back at the hologram, "I think she is slightly taller than you, Admiral."

Hood sighed tiredly and rested his head on his palms. "That's only because of her augmentations, Arbiter. Look, I don't know how long you Elites take to fully mature but fifteen Earth years is pretty young for a human. Technically she's not even considered an adult for three more years. Even the Spartan II's weren't that young when they went on their first mission. And to think this girl is actually one of the older ones in her company. Some of these kids are only _thirteen._" He shook his head in disbelief.

"Well if they are so young, why did you make them fight for you?" Thel asked.

Before Hood could say anything Parangosky decided to answer. "Because even at her age, she is powerful enough to fight multiple ODSTs and break them all in half. Need I remind you, sir, of the experiment with John-117 when he was only fourteen?"

"Shut up, Margret," Hood snapped angrily. That was yet another unethical test that ONI had done long ago by using the poor Helljumpers as guinea pigs. Those men had been accidentally killed by the young Spartan II just so that ONI could see how effective his augmentations had been. It was one of the reasons why the Helljumpers hated Spartans. He then turned to Thel and said, "I told you already, I didn't even know these Spartan IIIs existed. I thought the Master Chief was the last one left, although I think we still have a few Spartan II's that are legitimately MIA." Because of the UNSC's policy of labeling all killed Spartans MIA, it made it very confusing who was actually missing in action.

"But you are the highest ranking individual in your military!" Thel exclaimed. "How could you not know what your subordinates are doing?"

Hood sighed. "Historically, ONI have been given great latitude to do what they needed to do and as long as they helped the UNSC, the rest of us would just look the other way. They would often break our own laws and cross ethical boundaries. But not anymore. After you showed up yesterday with these kids it was the last straw. ONI is now directly under the control of CENTCOM and all their officials have been stripped of most of their power."

"A grave mistake which will only weaken the UNSC," Parangosky warned. "And, sir, it is strange that you are a big supporter of the Spartan II program despite the fact that all those children didn't even have a choice in their enlistment and more than half of them died from their augmentations when they were even younger than this girl," she pointed out. "At least the Spartan IIIs were volunteers and our augmentation procedures were much safer."

"Whatever the case may be, this young Spartan must assist us in our war," Thel insisted. "She is a very capable warrior. We need her help."

"That is not our problem," Hood snapped. "Right now we're focusing on rebuilding everything you Elites have destroyed for three decades. This Spartan lost her family because of your kind. Why should she help you?"

"Because by helping us, she is only helping you. I will not lie, Admiral. The war with the Brutes is actually not going well. The Prophets might be gone but the Brute Chieftains are trying to reconquer their empire. They have already made the Grunts their slaves. Eventually, they will come for you and you will not be able to stop them. Your orbital defenses are destroyed, you only have a small handful of ships left, right now you cannot even defend yourself from a mediocre size Brute fleet. We Elites, are the only race that still has enough military strength to stop them. But we are losing."

"Sir, can I speak with you in private?" Parangosky asked.

Hood's eyes narrowed with contempt for her. But he agreed to hear what she had to say. "Fine. Arbiter, could you please step out for a moment?"

"Very well, I shall let you discuss the matter amongst yourselves," the Elite said and exited the room leaving the two Admirals alone.

"Sir, there is a golden opportunity here, and we have to jump on it," Parangosky urged her superior. "These Elites seem to know absolutely nothing about their own technology aside from how to use it to kill us. But our own scientists have managed to successfully reverse engineer and make copies of this technology on numerous occasions, for example, the shields on the MJOLNIR armor."

"What are you proposing, Margret?" Hood asked.

"We can send ONI scientists to help them repair their ships. In the process they'll study and learn as much about their technology as possible and then bring that knowledge back to the UNSC. Soon, we can have energy weapons and energy shields on our own ships. If we ever go to war with an alien species again, we'll be much better prepared."

"That's actually a good idea," Hood agreed. "Right now, we're heavily dependent on them for protection and considering they are our former enemies we have to change that as soon as possible. But only non-combatants. The public has had enough of war and I don't think any UNSC servicemen would want to fight for their former enemy."

Hood called the Elite back in.

"Alright Arbiter, we'll try to help you out," he offered. "We'll send some of our scientists, technicians, and workers to help you repair your ships. At first they'll be totally lost with alien technology but I'm sure in time they can figure it out. But please, bring this girl back home, she's been through enough," he pleaded.

"I thank you for your offer. Your workers and technicians will be very helpful but we still need your Spartan," Thel said persistently.

"Look, Arbiter, she's not going to be like him if that's what you're hoping for," Hood said exasperatedly. "He was fighting the Covenant since Harvest. He's had decades of combat experience. And even among Spartans, he was something special. He was their leader. Compared to him, this kid is so new, so inexperienced. She's not going to meet your expectations. She won't be able to make a significant difference in your war, she'll probably just get killed. And we've lost enough children in this war."

"She might not have his experience but your men have trained her exceptionally well. Despite her inferior armor she managed to kill seven of our Elites before she was subdued. She has much potential and we will help her realize it. However, if you are that worried about her being killed there is something you can give her to greatly increase her chance of survival," Thel told him.

Many light years away, a Phantom drop sped through space from its ship towards the _Shadow of Intent._ On it were three passengers, a gold armored Zealot Fleet Master, and a black armored special ops Elite, and a special ops Grunt. They two special operatives sat in an awkward silence in the presence of their much higher ranking superior until the Zealot got so bored he decided to ask, "What is your name, young warrior?"

"Zakaree Vadam, Fleet Master," the special ops Elite answered. "And this is Hubbub."

"Vadam?" the Zealot looked surprised. "You are from the same clan as our Supreme Commander?"

Actually it was a lot more than that. When Zakaree was young, it was Thel who mentored him, taught him about honor, and trained him how to fight unarmed and with a metal blade. Elites were not allowed to know who their fathers were and Zakaree and all his cousins were raised together equally by the older Elites, who they referred to as uncles, but Zakaree always saw Thel as a father figure. But he didn't want to reveal all this so he just said, "Yes, Fleet Master. He is also the ruling Kaidon of my clan."

"Yes, I know he is. So what is your purpose on our flagship?" the Zealot inquired.

"We are being transferred to another team there," Zakaree told him. "Our old team was completely killed in our last mission. We are the only survivors. This team is short one Elite and Grunt. So we are being transferred to fill the gap." As he said this, the Zealot could see that he was embarrassed. In Elite culture, being the only survivor was not considered honorable because it implied that you were too cowardly to die with your team so you ran or hid while they fought and died. But this was definitely not true with Zakaree. Luckily the Fleet Master did not think any less of him.

"Do not be ashamed for living," the Zealot told him. "You cannot be a coward if you have been accepted into the _Arm of the Prophets,_" he said sarcastically. The two Elites chuckled together at the old nickname for the Covenant's special ops. "So how long have you been a special operative?" the Zealot asked.

"I volunteered after our victory at Reach," Zakaree said. "But I participated in a few campaigns before that."

"I entered the service all the way back in the Harvest campaign," the Zealot said reminiscing. "I have been fighting the humans for a very long time."

"Fleet Master, forgive me for asking," Zakaree said bowing his head, "but now that you know that the Prophets had lied to us, do you feel regret for killing so many humans?"

The Zealot was silent for a while as he contemplated it. He then said, "A part of me knows what we did was wrong. But I have been fighting them for so long, and have seen so many of my friends get killed by them that I cannot truly feel sorry for them. Even though we are no longer enemies, I find that I still have hatred for them even though I do not want to. And I resent the fact that the Forerunners chose them as the Reclaimers instead of us."

Zakaree didn't say anything. The two Elites were silent for the rest of the trip.

Meanwhile, in the _Shadow of Intent's_ medical bay, the wounded Grunt, Zamamo, was lying in a cot. He wasn't wearing his armor or methane tank but he was hooked up to a respirator which gave him his supply of methane. Next to him were his teammates, Tagbad and Flatyap and even Sel Fatham. The fact that an Elite cared enough about his Grunt teammate to pay him a visit highlighted how different this special ops team was to a normal infantry unit. Jaimie G127 was there too but only because she had to be. She could have cared less whether the Grunt made it or not. She was too busy arguing with the Ship Master Rtas Vadum who stopped by to congratulate them.

"This isn't fair. I thought you Elites cared about honor," Jaimie said, gritting her teeth and fiercely glaring at the Ship Master. "That Brute was like a five star General, he was way more important than those Elites that I killed!"

"I have already spoken to Sub-Commander Taham and I am aware that you played an important role in killing him," Rtas told her.

"Then why won't you just let me leave?" she asked. "I've done enough for you guys."

"Because it is not up to me, Spartan," Rtas said impatiently. "I do not have the authority to just let you go. I have to speak to the Supreme Commander."

"But you've been saying that for days! Where the hell is he?" she demanded.

"That is not your concern," Rtas said.

"Io, where is the Supreme Commander?" Jaimie asked loudly.

"He has gone to Earth to return the other Spartans," Io answered her from the ship's speakers. "Though I cannot say when he will return."

Jaimie smirked with satisfaction while the Ship Master grumbled something in his language. It felt good to piss him off.

In the cot next to Zamamo, another wounded Grunt, Baggag, was asleep and two of his friends stopped by to see how he was doing. Flapyip and Mawyaw watched Jaimie argue with Rtas.

"Look at how disrespectfully she talks to the Ship Master," Flapyip remarked. "You think we could get away with that? Of course not."

"Forget about talking disrespectfully, she killed seven Elites!" Mawyaw exclaimed. "But they still spared her life!"

The two Grunts were close friends who were conscripted together and were lucky enough to be in the same unit. After the Brutes' defeat at the Ark, the Elites declared the Covenant to be dissolved and the Grunts were finally free. However, this freedom was short lived because the Brutes quickly conquered and enslaved their race soon after. Flapyip and Mawyaw were forced to fight against the Elites until they escaped together. They then volunteered to fight for the Elites to liberate their race.

"...rukt...fist...merrycrisms..." Baggag mumbled behind them in his sleep causing Flapyip and Mawyaw to turn around. They watched him in silence for a while.

"Not to mention," Mawyaw continued, "she did this to Baggag. But of course the Elites don't care about him. He's just a Grunt."

"I hate Elites," Flapyip said a little loudly. "They treat us like crap, they use us just to give the enemy something else to shoot at, and they don't care if we die."

"You!" a voice barked from behind him. The two Grunts spun around and saw Sel Fatham looking at them. "So, you have a problem with Elites?"

All the Grunt doctors watched nervously as did the two Grunt teammates of the Elite. Flapyip's heart raced with fear. This Elite would surely beat him for speaking disrespectfully against his race. But then, nothing he said wasn't true. His people were oppressed by the Elites for too long. Even if the Prophets decided their place in the Covenant was at the bottom, that was all in the past now. The Prophets were exposed as liars and the Covenant didn't exist anymore. But the Elites still followed the old caste system and treated them the same. The Grunts just grudgingly accepted this because they were too scared to speak out. Flapyip looked at the sleeping Baggag and remembered how the Ultra Elite ordered them to leave him. Anger began to replace his fear. He didn't care what the Elite would do to him. He wouldn't tolerate this anymore.

"Answer me, Grunt!"

Flapyip looked the Elite right in the eye and said, "Yes, excellency, I do. We Grunts volunteered to help you fight the Brutes when we really didn't have to, yet you Elites still use us the same way and discriminate against us. A Grunt's life is considered to be worth less than that of an Elite. It is not fair. We might be physically weaker than you but we are actually not less intelligent like you have been taught to think. We can be much more useful than simple plasma fodder if you'll only let us. We are giving our lives to help you in your war and instead of appreciating our sacrifice you take us for granted. That is my problem with Elites."

The Grunt doctors as well as Tagbad and Flatyap looked completely shocked that Flapyip would just blurt all this out. Even the Ship Master overheard the conversation and watched with interest.

"What's going on? Why's everyone looking at him? What did he say?" Jaimie asked but no one answered her.

Sel Fatham, on the other hand was actually hoping the Grunt would say something like this. "So, you think you Grunts should be treated the same as us?" he asked. "Your physical weakness is not the only reason we consider you inferior. It is because you lack many traits that we value. Courage, loyalty, honor, tenacity and many others. Your species has shown time and again that you do not posses these traits. But like you said, you are volunteers. If you do not like the way we treat you then perhaps you should leave," he suggested.

"Pardon me, excellency," Mawyaw spoke up defending his friend. "But we are more than capable of showing all those traits that you mentioned. And for the record, the reason we volunteered is to liberate our race from the Brutes and until that happens, we are not going anywhere."

Sel Fatham looked at the Ship Master. Rtas nodded his approval. Sel looked back at the two Grunts. "You two think you have what it takes to be more than simple pawns? You think you have what it takes to kill a Brute?" he challenged.

"We do, excellency," Flapyip and Mawyaw said at the same time with more confidence than Sel had ever seen a Grunt show.

"Then I shall give you one chance to prove yourselves and make a difference instead of just being plasma fodder. My team just lost two of our Grunts in our last mission. I offer you the chance to be their replacements. In my unit there is no such thing as plasma fodder. Every member of the team depends on everyone else to do their part. Our training is extremely rigorous although for obvious reasons Grunts have lower standards than Elites. But even so, very few Grunts make it. If you are unable to keep up with Tagbad, Zamamo, and Flatyap you will not be allowed on the team. You have one chance. Are you interested in trying?"

The two Grunts looked at each other, looked back at the Elite and said, "Yes excellency!"

"Looks like you have found us two more Grunts to replace Padalo and Blacow," a voice growled behind them. Sel turned around and saw his team leader, Usze Taham accompanied by another special ops Elite and a special ops Grunt.

"Leader, they are highly motivated and eager to prove themselves," Sel told him. "It is your decision of course but I think we should give them a chance."

"Of course, we shall," Usze agreed.

"I take it, these two are Ntho's and Zamamo's replacements?" Sel asked.

"Yes. This is Zakaree Vadam and Hubbub," Usze introduced them to Sel and the Grunts. Zakaree and Sel nodded at each other while Hubbub got closer to his new Grunt teammates.

"This is Sel Fatham, my second in command," Usze said to the new arrivals. "He is our team sniper." Sel looked uncomfortable at being called a sniper. Usze pointed to the Grunts and said, "These two are Flatyap and Tagbad. They will be taking over the plasma cannons. And these other two are volunteers. But Sel must first see if they have what it takes to join our team. And we have one more teammate. That human over there..." his voice trailed off as he saw Jaimie. He sighed. "I see she is arguing with the Ship Master again. Hold on. I shall return in a moment." He began walking towards her.

"This is such bullshit! You can't just keep me here when I already...hey!" she cried out as she was suddenly lifted of the ground and shoved into the wall, although not that hard, by her team leader. "What the hell, put me down!"

"I understand that you are upset, however I will _not _let you speak that way to the Ship Master. As long as you are a member of this crew, you _will_ respect the chain of command as if you are on one of your own ships. You are a Spartan and you _will_ show some discipline. Is that understood?" Usze snarled threateningly.

Jaimie was too stunned from his words to struggle. She silently stared into his eyes as he held her up against the walls. She finally looked away, nodded, and said, "Yes I understand." Usze gently put her down.

"Spartan, when we Elites give you our word that we will do something, it will be done," Rtas promised her. "Now I am only a Ship Master so I do not know when the Supreme Commander intends for you to go home. But I do know that he is one of the most honorable Elites that I know and he would never just take advantage of your situation and use you indefinitely. You must to be patient. In the meantime, we have a war to fight so spend as much of your time training for your next mission. It would be a pity if you were to get killed before you earn your freedom."

"I will take care of that, Ship Master," Usze said. Rtas nodded and walked away.

"Come, Spartan, and meet your new teammates," Usze said as he led her to the rest of the team who saw the whole scene. As they approached them, Sel nodded approvingly at his team leader for his handling of the situation. The Grunts, however, were avoiding eye contact with her because they knew she would be pissed off right now and she was still strong enough to seriously hurt them. Jaimie noticed the new Elite and Grunts for the first time. "This is Zakaree and Hubbub," Usze told her.

Zakaree held out his hand as a greeting as per human custom. "It is good to meet you," he said in English.

Jaimie curiously stared at the new Elite then asked Usze, "Does he outrank me?"

Usze was unsure of what to say since technically the Spartan didn't have a Covenant rank. However, after her performance last mission, he decided she could be an honorary Special Ops Minor which was the same rank as Zakaree. "He is the same as you," he answered.

Jaimie turned to Zakaree, narrowed her eyes, and asked, "How many humans did you kill?"

Zakaree was completely taken aback by the question. "Many," he admitted.

"Then stay the hell away from me!" she snapped. "I might be forced to fight on your side but I damn sure won't socialize!" She walked away from them, fuming.

"By the rings, why must this child be so difficult?" Usze wondered out loud. "If she were an Elite I would just beat her until she learns her place but unfortunately the Supreme Commander himself ordered us not to do any such thing."

"Do not waste your time, brother," Sel advised the new Elite. "She will never forgive us. But it does not matter for she will not be here long anyway. She is only working off her blood debt."

"I would not forgive us either if I were in her place," Zakaree said. He began walking towards her. Sel looked at Usze and gave the Elite equivalent of a shrug.

Jaimie angrily glared at the new Elite as he approached her. "Look, maybe you didn't understand me..."

"I understood you perfectly, human," Zakaree interrupted her. "I know you will never forgive us for what we have done to you. But I do not ask for forgiveness because I know I do not deserve it. It took the death of those that I loved at the hands of the Brutes to make me realize that this is what I have been doing to your people. Since then, I have immensely regretted my part in the war against your people."

Jaimie shook her head. "It's way too late to apologize," she said bitterly. "And I'm glad you lost someone. I'm glad you know what it feels like."

"Yes, I do," Zakaree agreed. "It is a terrible feeling to lose your family, isn't it? But it made me realize the pain I have put you and many others like you through. Ever since that dark day I returned to my home in High Charity and saw my mate and child dead, my sole reason for staying alive has been to avenge them by killing as many Brutes as I can and I have indeed killed many Brutes. But my kin is still dead and will forever remain dead just like your loved ones will forever remain dead. Nothing I say or do can bring them back. I just want you to know that we Elites are not a race of evil, merciless murderers like you believe. We were manipulated into doing the Prophets bidding. We thought we were in the right. And as hard as it is for me to admit, those Brutes that murdered my mate and child were probably not evil either. They were also doing what they believed was right."

"That's no excuse," Jaimie said.

"Of course not. There is no excuse," Zakaree said sadly.

The two of them stood in silence for a while as Jaimie contemplated everything he said.

"You really loved them didn't you," she asked.

"On Sanghelios, my people have a tradition. We are not allowed to know who our parents are. I still do not know who my father is. But in High Charity where I moved, Elites do not always follow this tradition. My home only had three of us living in it, me, my mate, and my child. And my son knew exactly who I was. He knew that I was his father and he adored me. He would always recognize me when I came home to visit him. And it was truly, the best feeling in the world. But now, I know he will never come running up to me to greet me with an embrace ever again. And I cannot describe how much that hurts."

Jaimie didn't know if Elites were capable of crying like humans did. Maybe instead of shedding tears, they exhibited different symptoms. Maybe this Elite was crying right now and she couldn't tell. But she could definitely feel his grief. And to her total surprise, she found herself feeling sorry for him. She sighed and reached out with her hand. "I'm Jaimie," she said, not believing she was doing this.

The Elite shook her hand the way he had seen humans doing. "_Jaymee._" It was the first time she heard an Elite say her name. Usually they just called her Spartan or human or something else in their language that she couldn't even pronounce. "My name is Zakaree."

"Right. You know, I still hate your people and I always will," she told him.

"Just as I will always hate the Brutes for what they have done," Zakaree replied. "It is understandable."

"But maybe I don't have to hate you personally," she said.

"If you do not then it is good. But even if you do, I will understand," Zakaree said apathetically.

"No. You really do seem to regret what you did. And you're the only Elite I've met who actually apologized to me," Jaimie remarked.

"I am curious. How did you come across these Elites?" Zakaree asked. "I heard rumors of your capture on my old ship but I am still vague on the details."

"It's kind of a long story," Jaimie said.

"That is not a problem for me."

"Alright, I'll tell you."

**So yeah, Jaimie might seem pretty undisciplined, acting more like a pissed off marine rather than a Spartan, but that's only because she hates the former Covenant with a burning passion and doesn't really see them as her superiors regardless of their rank. This will slowly change as the story progresses.  
**


End file.
